On Knowingly Setting Unrealistic Goals in Public Health

What is the ethics of setting unrealistic goals in public health-declared goals of population health campaigns that, when introduced, are already known to be impossible to accomplish? Over the past 2 decades, major public health campaigns have set unrealistic goals, such as "eliminating" o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American journal of public health (1971) 2020-04, Vol.110 (4), p.480-484
Main Authors: Eyal, Nir, Sjöstrand, Manne
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome
AIDS
AJPH Law & Ethics
Deception
Ethics
Funding
Global Health
Goal setting
Goals
Health Policy
Health promotion
Health Promotion - ethics
Health Promotion - methods
Health risks
HIV
Hospitals
Human error
Human immunodeficiency virus
Humans
Malaria
Medical errors
Motivation
Objectives
Patient safety
Pneumonia
Poliomyelitis
Public finance
Public health
Public Health - ethics
Public Health - methods
Public Health Practice
Risk analysis
Risk factors
Tropical diseases
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Summary:What is the ethics of setting unrealistic goals in public health-declared goals of population health campaigns that, when introduced, are already known to be impossible to accomplish? Over the past 2 decades, major public health campaigns have set unrealistic goals, such as "eliminating" or reaching "zero" on diseases and risk factors that are clearly ineliminable.We argue that unrealistic goals can sometimes motivate action, attract funding, and help educate the public and public health practitioners better than realistic goals. Although unrealistic goal setting faces ethical challenges, including the charge of deceit and that of undermining the field's credibility, we argue that these challenges can be met.The advantages of unrealistic goal setting while overcoming these challenges can be accomplished in 2 stages: (1) an initial declaration of the attractive but unrealistic goal educates and motivates; (2) realistic, precise, and actionable subgoals then expose its unrealistic nature and preempt ongoing deceit.
ISSN:0090-0036
1541-0048
DOI:10.2105/AJPH.2019.305428